The Cost of Limiting Climate Change Could Double Without Carbon Capture Technology - MIT

When it comes to technology for averting climate change, renewable energy often gets the limelight. But a relatively neglected technology—capturing carbon dioxide from power plants—could have a far bigger impact on the economics of dealing with climate change, according to a U.N. report released earlier this week.

The report found that if solar and wind power fall short of targets, it would increase the cost of limiting global warming, but only by a modest amount—about 6 percent.

But costs could more than double if carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology isn’t deployed.  That’s because solar power could be replaced with alternatives such as nuclear power, while CCS is harder to replace.  It’s the only technology that can reduce the emissions of existing power plants, some of which will stay in operation for decades.  It also might be the best way to limit emissions from some industrial processes, such as making steel.

Most importantly for the economics of averting climate change, CCS could be essential for taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, a strategy the IPCC found might be necessary to limiting warming to two degrees Celsius or less.

The Cost of Limiting Climate Change Could Double Without Carbon Capture Technology - MIT